Such a heavy duty pneumatic tire can be used in a vehicle, such as a dump truck, that may be used at construction sites, mines, and other locations. The road surfaces on which such a vehicle may be driven include swampy ground where, after a rain, a layer of soft clay several centimeters thick is formed on hard ground.
As such a tire, JP 2012-147944 A (PTL 1) discloses a tire in which one or more shallow grooves are provided in a block that extends across the tire equatorial plane. The shallow grooves have an average groove depth that is shallower than the groove depth of the circumferential grooves adjacent to the block, and at least one of the shallow grooves opens to at least one groove among the circumferential grooves and the transverse grooves adjacent to the block. PTL 1 asserts that providing the shallow grooves improves mud. drainage in the contact patch, thereby improving slip resistance, and improves traction performance due to an increase in the edge component, without a large reduction in block rigidity.